On April 1, 2024, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it had reached the annual quota of 85,000 cap beneficiaries in the initial registration period for employment in FY 2025. USCIS has...more
On Monday, March 25 at Noon EDT, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) closed the initial H-1B registration period. The agency stated that it will soon randomly select enough unique beneficiaries of...more
On January 30, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the pre-registration filing period for the 2025 Fiscal Year H-1B cap submissions will take place from March 6, 2024, at noon ET to noon...more
On December 27, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that premium processing fees related to employment-based visa and green card petitions will increase as of February 26, 2024. USCIS will reject...more
The H-1B visa, highly sought after and a valuable route for foreign nationals to ultimately pursue U.S. residence status, will become available for pre-registrations in the lottery submission process in March 2024. We await...more
Significant modifications to the H-1B visa program are expected to be implemented by the Department of Homeland Security. The agency issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) that would “modernize the H-1B specialty...more
11/10/2023
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Visas
On September 13, 2023, Judge Andrew Hanen of the Federal District Court in Houston, Texas, ruled that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program is unconstitutional. Specifically, Judge Hanen concluded that...more
The U.S. State Department and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have announced several significant updates relating to the 2025 Diversity Lottery Program and the Temporary Protected Status extension...more
On October 26, 2023, a temporary rule allowing certain eligible applicants for employment authorization documents (EADs) to automatically extend their EADs for 540 days will expire. EAD applicants who file Form I-765...more
On August 1, 2023, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that they selected a total of 188,400 H-1B cap registrations to reach the annual 85,000 quota. In March 2023, the agency first selected...more
Employers are required to use the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) to verify the identity and employment authorization for...more
8/7/2023
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E-Verify ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Eligibility Verification ,
Foreign Workers ,
Form I-9 ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigrants ,
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USCIS
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on July 27 that it will conduct a second round of random selections from the previously submitted FY 2024 H-1B pre-registrations. These pre-registration requests...more
On June 28, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) introduced a new online Biometrics Appointment Rescheduling tool, which allows immigration benefits applicants and their attorneys to reschedule biometrics...more
Now that summer has begun, the Department of Homeland Security, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and ICE have all issued several significant updates, relating to the expansion of premium processing...more
Over the past few weeks, there have been several immigration-related updates from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, USCIS, and other immigration-related agencies relevant to our clients. Below is a summary of these...more
On March 27, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it had selected sufficient H-1B visa preregistrations to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 regular H-1B cap (bachelor’s degree cap)...more
On March 27, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has selected sufficient H-1B Visa Petitions to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 regular cap (bachelor’s degree cap) and 20,000...more
Over the past week, the State Department and USCIS have issued several significant updates, including the return of U.S. stateside visa processing and the expansion of premium processing for F-1 students....more
On January 27, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the dates for this year’s H-1B pre-registration filing period.
The H-1B Cap Season: March 2023-
The H-1B nonimmigrant visa is one of the...more
Over the past week, USCIS has issued several updates including the expansion of premium processing services and bundling of H-1B and L-1 Visa spouses requests.
USCIS Announces the Expansion of Premium Processing Services...more
Happy New Year! As we begin 2023, we would like to share the following recent U.S. immigration-related updates:
Nonimmigrant Visa Interview Waivers Extended Until December 31, 2023 On December 23, 2022, the U.S....more
Although the economic expectations for 2023 seem uncertain, demand for H-1B visas for skilled workers in the next year will likely remain high. As a result, we urge employers to start assessing their current and prospective...more
The Real ID Act requires U.S. states to issue driver’s licenses and non-driver identification cards that meet enhanced security standards for purposes of travel and admission to federal facilities....more
Recent massive layoffs and hiring freezes announced by major technology companies, coupled with fears of an imminent recession in the U.S. have significantly impacted workers and raised concerns among many currently employed...more
On September 8, 2022, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced its long waited public charge rule. As outlined in our previous alert, in March 2021, USCIS rescinded its public charge rule, which...more